Should brands take corporate positions on matters of national debate?

I saw this image floating around social media today in connection with Charles Mullins's recent interview with ITV.

I’ve heard Charles's views before, in various interviews about Pimlico Plumbers infamous “No Jab, No Job” employer policy and it's not an easy watch to see such a rookie mistake being made by such an experienced leader.

How many times has history taught us that playing politics or religion in business is a sure-fire method to alienate large segments of any given customer base in an instant??You might say it's elementary stuff, that a business would avoid pushing strong, polarising and uncompromising views held by shareholders directly into its public image... yet we still seemingly have no shortage of candidates ready to?go next.

We saw it with Brexit when firm after firm queued to pin corporate colours to the masts of their executives' chosen side of the viciously opposed leave and remain camps.?Cutting their customer bases neatly in half in the process.?

Then last year when the pandemic hit, we watched business after business wheel out home-brew pandemic response policies that went far beyond the government guidelines.?Woke pundits applauded from the sidelines as construction firms closed building sites up and down the country before slow walking the changes back just weeks later when it became obvious their PR powerplays were costing a king’s ransom and causing far more damage than good.?

And it’s not just the customer base that rolls its eyes.?

Consider working for an employer that publicly espouses strong views on matters of public discourse, morality or personal choice, what percentage of employees might share opposing views to those presented as the?company line, or as Charles proposes, the?company policy? Should they keep their views secret??Should they still feel part of the team??What if their dissenting opinions become known to their employer, could they still feel welcome at work??Would they still fit in??Might they feel under pressure to leave?

Do businesses now expect employees to simply adopt the corporate position on matters of divided public opinion??Do Pimlico Plumbers also now dictate their employee’s political preferences??Their position on national referenda…??Their vote? Where does it end? Their football team?

We have come far too far down the road of tolerance and freedom to let such a distastefully intolerant brand of leadership and bullying take root on our national psyche.

Charles misinterprets Britain’s typically pro stance on vaccines as a green light to lay waste to our far more fundamental values of freedom, tolerance and the right to self determination.?Perhaps the lesson waiting to unfold this time is that any business rushing to conflate pro-vaccine attitudes with anti-freedom and anti-tolerance preferences is grossly underestimating the human disposition to think critically… and they may pay a heavy price for doing so.

No matter how virtuous a leadership team might feel, pushing the corporate position on highly polarising matters of preference will nearly always backfire.

So don’t get caught in the trap, the list of brands wishing they’d left pandemic policymaking strictly to the government is long, fast growing and eyeing you up from the bar.